Feeding channel for continuous rod cigarette machines



Dec. 29, 1931. R. E. RUNDELL 1,833,110

FEEDING CHANNEL FOR CONTINUOUS ROD CIGARETTE MACHINES Filed Feb. 18, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY INV TOR lii. 1.1::- i. .I..... .1....Ii-41:12.2... i... .I. a N\ \N m A; mwl flmiivkmuiwn lifn wqmw l||\\ a Dec. 29, 1931.

R.E.RUNDELL FEEDING CHANNEL FOR CONTINUOUS ROD CIGARETTE MACHINES FIC19 Filed Feb. 18, 1930 FlCill 2 Sheets-Shee 2 VENTOR WM N BY Patented Dec. 29, 1931 means UNETEEESTATES PATENT OFFICE RUPERT E. BUNDELL, OF ROCKVILLE CENTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGITOR TO AMERICAN MACHINE 80 FOUNDRY COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY FEEDING CHANNEL FOB. CONTINUOUS ROD CIGARETTE MACHINES Application filed February 18, 1930. Serial No. 429,296.

This invention relates to feeding channels for continuous rod cigarette machines, its objects being, first, to make these channels readily removable from, and returnable to, their operating position by a simple manipulation without taking them off from the machine; second, to so arrange the parts that the cigarette paper is accurately guided and cannot Warp during its passage through the channel; and third, to provide means for automatically stringing the paper strip, or leading it into the guide tracks of the feeding channel.

The first object is achieved by attaching the feeding channel to two stationary studs on the frame of the cigarette machine by means of two parallel links so that it can be bodily moved into and out of position by pushing a handle in the desired direction.

The second object is accomplished by making the channel of a U-shaped cross-section with covers over the U-shanks, the length of the U being exactly equal to the width of the cigarette paper so that the edges of the paper strip touch, and are positively guided by, the covers of the channel.

The third object is attained by equipping the receiving end of the channel with a pair of stringing guides having pointed,outward ly projecting ends, so shaped as to compel the edges of the paper strip to fold around them and thereby to enter the guide grooves of the channel, when merely folding the strip and pulling it forward between the stringing guides.

With these and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain. constructions and combinations which will be hereinafter fully described and specifically set forth in the claims hereunto appended;

Whenever, after something has gone wrong with the rod in a cigarette machine, the imperfect section of the rod must be removed and the paper started anew, it becomes necessary to open the feeding channel for feeding and re-stringing the paper. As trouble due to improper adjustment is liable to occur at any time, and the rod then may have to be restarted a number of times before the fault is finally corrected, it is evident that much time and production will be lost unless the feeding channel is readily accessible and quickly manipulated. With the present improved construction, by bodily lowering the channel without removing it fromthe machine, it becomes unnecessary to undo any parts therefrom in order to prepare the same for a new start. The manipulation of the feeding channel therefore requires but a single movement without refitting and readjustment of parts, and can be accomplished in a minimum of time even by an inexperienced operator. The added stringing guides save another considerable amount of time since, with them, the paper strip finds its position in the channel quickly by itself without the more or less laborious process of threading its edges into the channel grooves by hand.

In the arrangement shown by the accompanyin drawings, the channel is held in its operating position by tightening the nuts on the fulcrum studs of the shift links. If'desired, a snap lever may be attached to the channel body or to one of the links so as to engage with a latch on the machine frame when in the working position, the said snap lever being released by turning or tilting the operating handle in a well known manner prior to manipulating the same for moving the channel into open position.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. v1 is a side elevation of the improved feeding channel;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the receiving end of the same seen from line 22 of Fig. 1; V

' 3 is an end elevation seen from line Fig. 4 is across-section, in enlarged scale, of the feeding channel taken on line 4,4 of Fig. 1, showing the special shaped stringing guides;

F 5 is an end view diagram, in enlarged scale, seen from line 55 in F ig. 1, showing the manner in which the paper strip is guided into feeding position, five consecutive stages of the strip being shown;

Fig. 6 is a cross-section, in enlarged scale, of the feeding channel on line 6-6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is cross-section, in enlarged scale,

of the rod forming means, taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 8 to 13 are details showing a modified arrangement of the paper guide grooves of the feeding channel.

In carrying the invention into effect there is provided a tobacco feed, means for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper adjacent to said tobacco feed to receive a charge of tobacco, and means permitting the "cigarette paper guiding means to be moved out of op-' erative position to facilitate adjustment of the paper. In the best constructions, said cigarette paper guiding means comprises a trough and guiding members cooperating with the sides of the .trough to properly guide the cigarette paper, :and additional means to properly guide the cigarette paper between the sides of the trough and the guiding memhers. The cigarette paper guiding means :may be further provided with a plurality :of pivoted levers connected thereto, whereby the guidingmeans may be readily moved out of operative position.

These various means and parts may be widely varied in construction within the :scope of the claims, for the particular machine selected to illustrate the'invention is but one of many possible concrete embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the specific construction shown and described.

"Ihe improved feeding channel, which runs along the entire length 'ofthe tobacco feed 1 in which the filled tobacco is prepared for charging and from which it is fed to the paper, consists of the body 6 forming a U- shaped trough 7 on which are mounted the top guide bars 8 having the guide plates 9 projecting partway into the trough 7. The bottoms of the bars 8 are slightly wider than the tops of body 6 so that a clearance space is established between the bottom tip of each guide plate 9 and thenearest side of the filling trough 7. Into these clearance spaces the edgesof the cigarette paper P are placed, :and since the U of the channel is made to the exact width of the paper, both edges of the latter .are in contact with the guide bars 8 along their entire length, and the strip is thus positively guided during its entire passage through the feeding channel so that it cannot warp out of shape while the filler tobacco T is being deposited upon it from the chute 10 of the tobacco feed.

The channel body 6 is provided with holes .11 which allow the tobacco to fall out when cleaning the channel for a new start. The .body 6 is mounted on bearing brackets 12 to which are pivoted links 13 fulcrumed on studs 14 mounted on the frame 15 of the cigarette machine. The studs 14 having the clamping screws 16 which hold the links 13 in their upright position when the machine is in operation. WVhen the feeding channel is lowered by means of the handle 17 into the start-preparing position, indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the body 6 rests on the stop pin 18 mounted in frame 15. The channel body 6 carries an arm 19 on which is mounted .a roller .20 forguidingthepaper strip P into the feeding channel.

The paper strip P is led into the channel 6 by the guides 21 attached to the ends of bars 8 within "the channel. The guides 21, Figs. 1, 2, 1 and 5, form the continuation of the guide plates 9 and have the pointed ends 22. These ends are so shaped that the paper strip P, when foldedup double and pulled with the closed edge down in the forward direction,enterslbetween the guides as shown at 1 in .Fig. 5, :then works down between the humps 23asshown in position II of the strip, and, afterihavingpassed thehumps,theedges of the strip are turned-outward by the humps, position. III, and, by the pulling action on the strip, are gradually led around the bottom edges24 of guides '21 as seen in IV, until they have entered the guide grooves formed by plates 19, when the strip is in its final working position V.

This action of the paper is due in part to the fact that the portion of the paper to the rear of the :guides 21 is held fiat by the roller .20 just before it enters the channel while at the same time the portion of the paper strip beyond the-guides on which-theoperator pulls during stringing is held against the bot-tom of thechannel in broad U shaped formation,

and moreover the paper adjacent the guide is under strong tension. Consequently there is astrong tendency downwardly and outwardly of the upper edges of the paper strip 'adacent the guides 23, which with the help of the humps forcing the :paper edges down-- wardly, has been found by experience sufii cient to pull the edges at this point down and run them under the depending edges 'of the guides and guide plates completing the dif- IfiClLllt part of the stringing operation.

Upon leaving the feeding channel, the tobacco charged paper trough P is carried by the conveyor belt 25 running over pulley 26 into the rod former 27 whose base is of similar cross-section as body 6, and the forming trough 28 of which projects a small distance into the feeding channel 7, so that the pap'ci naturally enters from the latter into the former and no separate connecting part, or

bridge, is required between them.

While the paper guide grooves of the improved feeding channel are 'shown continuous in Figs. 1 to 7, being produced by the continuous guide plates 9 attached to the guide bars 8, they are preferably made non-continuous as shown in Figs. '8 to 13, for the purpose of preventing tobacco shreds from lodging in them and thereby to cause damage by tearing the paper.

In Fig. 8, a longitudinal cross-section on the line 88 in Fig. 10; in Fig. 9 a sectional top view on the line 99 in Fig. 8; in Figs. 1O, 11 and 12, transverse cross-sections on lines 10-10, 1111, and 1212 of Fig. 8, respectively; and in Fig. 13, a perspective view of such an arrangement are shown. The sides of body 6 of the channel are cut away between equally spaced supporting portions 29, thus leaving long openings 30 at the sides of the paper grooves, the outside of the paper strip being guided in the support por tions 29 only. The inside guides 31, which now form a series of separate noses, are made integral with the guide bars 8 and project into the channel body 6 midway between the supports 29, so that the paper guiding groove is never closed on both sides simultaneously, but is open on the inside at the points of outside guiding, and on the outside at the points of inside guiding, and it is thus impossible for tobacco shreds or foreign matter of any kind to interfere with the running of the paper.

In order not to disturb the distribution of the tobacco carried by the paper strip P, the inside guides are made with a long taper 32 towards the nose 31 in the direction of the paper travel, indicated by the arrow in Fig. 13, so that in case the tobacco layer is high enough to submerge a part of the nose, the latter enters into the tobacco gradually by the taper 32- forcing the tobacco to slide under the nose, as the paper advances into guiding position. I

Owing to the perfect guiding of the paper strip by the improved construction of the feeding channel which excludes all warping of the paper, the rod reaches the paster of the machine with its open flap in an absolutely straight condition so that the paste is applied along its entire length and a perfect seal of the rod is obtained.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a tobacco feed, of a trough disposed adj acent thereto for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper to receive aeharge of tobacco, and mechanism constructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilitate adjust-v ment of the cigarette paper.

2. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a tobacco feed, of a trough disposed adjacent thereto for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper to receive a charge of tobacco, and mechanism constructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilitate adjustment of the cigarette paper, said mechanism including a plurality of pivoted links connected to the guiding means.

3. In a cigarette machine, the combina tion with a tobacco feed, of a perforated rough disposed adjacent thereto for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper to receive a charge of tobacco, and mechanism c0nstructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilitate adjustment of the cigarette paper.

4. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a tobacco feed, of a trough disposed adj acent thereto for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper to receive a charge of tobacco, and mechanism constructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilitate adjustment of the cigarette paper, said trough being provided with guiding means cooperating with the sides of the trough to guide the cigarette paper.

5. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a tobacco feed, of a trough disposed adjacent thereto for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper to receive a charge of tobacco, and mechanism constructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilitate adjustment of the cigarette paper, said trough being provided with a plurality of guide bars each having means cooperating with the sides of the trough to guide the cigarette paper.

6. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a tobacco feed, of a trough disposed adjacent thereto for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper to receive a charge of tobacco, a plurality of guide members connected to said trough and shaped to fold and direct the cigarette paper into the trough, and mechanism constructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilltate adjustment of the cigarette paper.

7. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a trough for guiding a continuous strip of cigarette paper, of mechanism constructed and arranged to lower said trough out of operative position, whereby to facilitate adj ustment of the cigarette paper.

8. In a cigarette machine, the combination with a trough for guiding the cigarette paper, of a plurality of pivoted links supporting said trough, whereby it may be lowered out of operative position, and a stop for limiting the movement of said trough.

9. In a cigarette machine, guiding means for the cigarette paper comprising a trough having open sides, and a plurality of noncontinuous guide members adapted to cooperate with the sides of the trough to guide the cigarette paper.

10. In a cigarette machine, guiding means for the cigarette paper comprising a trough having open sides, and a plurality of guide bars mounted on said trough and provided with non-continuous guide members adapted to cooperate with the sides of the trough to guide the cigarette paper.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

RUPERT E. RUN DELL. 

